Saturday, November 29, 2014

Been studying a lot of Lucas Lepri and his passing lately. In fact, I've watched every match of his I can find on youtube/the internet. In particular looking at how it's changed from his worst appearance in the finals of the mundials (2007 against Vinicius I think), his repeated matches over several years with JT Torres, and culminating with his matches against Satoshi and JT at this years Mundials. He's become far more insistent in how he passes and his passing game appears relatively narrow (in a good way) with the positions he gets to and the manner in which he breaks down the open guards of those he faces.

I've been working on my mentality toward competing by watching a lot of Malcolm Gladwell and reading research regarding expert/skill acquisition.

The takeaways (among others) are that mindlessly training hard is not the best use of training time. Forming a systematic approach to training and being open to feedback and match analysis, however, are ways to optimize training. Training one way, or just grinding in the same drills are also not the most effective use of your training time.

I've been going back and rewatching matches for my entire year at purple belt. Looking not only for mistakes but also where I've been effective: namely with a few exceptions my open guard sweeps have been considerably more consistent than my open guard passing. Where I've gotten caught and/or where I've lost matches has begun with being swept while passing with only about 3-4 matches where I was not able to get the sweep. In the matches where I couldn't get the sweep, I didn't chain together my open guard sweeps and various types of open guard, ala DLR, Reverse DLR, deep half, spider, et cetera.

I made some hard choices and quit my weekend job to be most rested for my referee and competition opportunities and also not mix up my sleep schedule by working downtown weekends then back to my full-time job during the week. I've begun drilling 3-4 days a week in the morning for about 90 minutes in addition to training at night and on the weekends.

Phsycially, I've been drilling my guard passing and combining my knee through guard passing with a backstep pass and some other nuances to my guard passing. I've been logging anywhere from 60-80-100 reps at a time in sets of 20.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Roy is the guy who actually started my passing game.
He showed me a head down, very pressure-driven knee through guard pass.
This pretty much was the first pass I could hit with any regularity and now I don't even know how people pass if they don't do some variation of this.

"Kron Gracie, Son of MMA and jiu-jitsu legend Rickson Gracie, will meet Hyung Soo Kim in a lightweight bout at Real Fight Championship 1 on Dec. 23 in Japan, the promotion announced."

It looks like they're adopting the Royce Gracie attitude toward MMA - which is to eschew crosstraining.

"'He’s focused, he wants to bring jiu-jitsu back to MMA," Gracie said.
"He’s not doing crosstraining to work on his weaknesses. He won’t start
boxing, kickboxing, wrestling. He will use his jiu-jitsu to neutralize
the wrestler, the striker, and work on his expertise.'"

"Roberto Satoshi, who competed against Jake Shields
at Metamoris 5’s secret match, will also compete at the event, facing
Jeong Doo-Jae in a lightweight contest. BJJ champion Gabi Garcia is also
expected to make her MMA debut at the event, but her opponent is still
yet to be announced."

Jake Shields also had an impressive match with Satoshi who looked a bit sheepish afterward. I thought it was an exciting match and Jake Shields shows he's an MMA fighter with legit credentials (not that anyone doubted that before).

The Rory and JT match had it's moments but what's with these MMA guys showing up in poorly chosen grappling shorts and looking flabby as all get out?

The big winner of the event was Matheus Diniz who really put the work to Vinny Magalhaes. I don't see and don't want to see Magalhaes on another Metamoris card.

As a sport Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast watching part 5 or 6 or of however many matches Keenan and Yuri have had was exciting. Keenan looked like perhaps he'd overtrained a bit for this one and was not as fresh looking early on, but that training at Atos that looks like a room full of killers paid off and Keenan looked better and better as the match wore on.

Anyhow, somehow, I was left a bit disappointed.
Watching Saku and Renzo, and Renzo redeeming himself was powerful, but perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for a night of submission grappling and sport Jiu-Jitsu. I'm unable to ascertain what specifically about the show was lacking. The production was good. The pacing also felt streamlined. The matches were close and had a lot of back and forth by and large.

I'm left with Jeff Glover's voice in my ear asking Kit Dale, "Do they have Donkeys in Australia?"

Friday, November 21, 2014

I think Gianni takes it over Miyao which actually goes against the conventional wisdom I'm seeing online.

I think Leandro beat Durinho despite the fact that Durinho has edged him out in their previous matches. I think Leandro's newfound "size" and every increasing strength plus Durinho's MMA focus will see a more athletic/more powerful Leandro get to Durinho's back. I've read interview where Durinho at least in words seems dismissive of Leandro, but Leandro has looked great, only barely being edged out by Keenan in the absolute at Mundials then recently coming back to defeat him at the NY BJJ Pro.

I see no reason why Preguica won't recapture his title.

Metamoris 5:

I think the Secret Match will be.....drumroll please.......Kenny Florian versus Sean Roberts
Garry TOnon will likely finish Zak Maxwell. Zak is tough and in the gi I would predict a draw, but Garry in the NoGi is no joke. I think Garry takes this one by toehold off of a heel hook set up.

Some random guy versus Vinny? I think Vinny wins this unless he gets frustrated and breaks mentally like he did down the stretch against Keenan who frustrated him just enough to see Vinny begin to crack.

Yuri now faces Keenan and as much as Yuri has been on a tear, I see nothing from Yuri's recent matches to make me believe he'll pass Keenan's myriad of guard/lapel/whatever-you-call-it maze of legs and lapels and hooks and feet and grips.
I see this one going to distance as all of their encounters have been close.

JT vs Rory is interesting in that Rory is considerably heavier than JT. JT if he had a sharper leg lock game I would actually be picking to win, but I think Rory's beast mode size and strength will thwart much of JT's game until perhaps the last 4-5 minutes.

Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba versus Renzo?
This is honestly which guy has more mileage left in the old man gas tank.
Kazushi's frightening losses at the end of his career to guys the size of Wanderlei and others....I just...it's hard to say. I think also, Renzo has a better stable of competitors and guys with which to prepare.
That being said....Kazushi is mercurial and unpredictable.
I mean, who do you find that rolls like that guy?
I'll go with Kazushi by unconventionality with some bizarre submission most of us have never seen before.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

With the advent of the Berimbolo and other standing guard pass dangers, it always seemed predictable that low/knee down guard passing would become the norm.
Even for a hardcore sport Jiu-Jitsu fan/follower, it's not the most exciting Jiu-Jitsu match to watch.
The relentless pressure, patience, and insistence needed to impose this type of game, particularly against a wily and crafty bottom player like Paulo is a protracted and tense but visually perhaps boring 10 minute display.

Monday, November 17, 2014

I watched Bellator Saturday night. Yep.
I didn't watch UfC.
Nope.
My buddy and I rode back from US Grappling Greensboro, sat down, and tuned in to Cable TV's SpikeTV Bellator broadcast.

Neither of us felt like dealing with the morass of your typical UFC-going casual fans at a sports bar and in no way do I regret my decision.

The card was in no way worth leaving the house and venturing into the semi-cold nor standing up at a bar for 3 hours nor was it worth shelling out 40+ $$ to order it at home.

I didn't and don't care about Ellerberger, the exploding cauliflower ear or the guy who pooped his pants in the UFC that night. A couple of freak occurrences don't make the card somehow now a woeful letdown from anything other than what it was never, namely a card warranting a PPV. The UFC could have done far more for its fan base by streaming it or broadcasting it whatever for free or with commercials and calling it what it was: a card to build the Mexico-MMA/Latin America market.
The card as a PPV is laughable. As a consumer, I didn't support it with money and opted to watch a much more worth my time card for free on CableTV (free-ish?).
We live in a time for MMA where over-saturation means I had two other options for MMA on TV that weren't PPV and I'm okay with that.

The Bellator fights were entertaining, the commercial breaks are never as bad the UFC's on free/cable TV and I had fun watching them, and watching Ortiz vs Bonnar sad as it was..somehow I found oddly gratifying. I honestly can't tell you why unless it's along the lines of why people watch videos on Narco Mundo websites. I got to watch Melvin Manhoef in action, King Mo beat up and finish some guy slightly less skilled than him. Tito vs Bonnar, and Will Brooks in a strangely ended fight against Will Brooks in their rematch. What's not to love?

Am I sad I didn't spend hours of my night waiting for the UFC's main event? Not at all.
Anyone who says this card had more than one actual fight worth being excited about is lying out the side of their mouth.

We're practically going without a UFC until December 6th, and no Bellator until mid-January.
There's a TUF Finale with Frankie Edgar vs Edson Barboza, Brad Pickett, and Joseph Benavidez on the card as well before then, but honestly UFC fans are waiting until December 6th for the rematch between Hendricks and Lawler and Pettis vs Melendez. In other action Urijah Faber will knock off another ladder-climber and Travis Browne returns to action.
"

Ooooh, I can barely wait.
And Copa Podio is the same day.
I do think the clash of styles that BJJ Scout emphasizes means we'll see an exciting match. Two great BJJ players or two great wrestlers, whatever, can lead to a stalemated, truncated match at times. I don't see that happening here.

I would 100% rather watch Will Brooks vs Michael Chandler and Manhoef execute some guy than sit around and wait for Werdum vs Hunt. I have about zero desire to see Ellenberger vs Gastelum, though Bermudez vs Lamas is interesting if Bermudez moves up the ladder with a win. To put it bluntly, this card is ONLY above a Fight pass card because of the main event. Even that is a replacement, but this card was always built around one fight.

It's the same day as the Metamoris (seriously?) but the Copa Podio's groups have been drawn.
Much like the IBJJF and Abu Dhabi Pro (the Pans, Abu Dhabi Pro, and the Worlds in the span of about 3 months out of the year, we get two awesome events on the exact same day.

Remember, in the Copa Podio, it's Round Robin where you face everyone and who garners the most points across the division then moves on to the final.
It also includes two 20 submission only superfights:Leandro Lo vs Gilbert "Durinho" Burns and Gianni Grippo vs Joao Miyao. Preguica will look to win his title again/keep it but there are some very tough guys in it for him: notably :"
Submission win = 4 points Points or advantages win = 3 points Draw = 1 point each
The match length is six minutes. Here is how the distribution of athletes played out:
GREEN
Diogo Moreno (past GP finalist) Diego Borges (past GP finalist) Claudio Calasans Jon Satava (brown belt) Luiz Panza
YELLOW
Felipe “Preguica” Pena (current champion) Gregor Gracie (past runner-up) Patrick Gaudio Thiago Sa Erberth Santos (brown belt)"

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Tough match. Weight discrepancy aside, I didn't chain together my open guard attacks nor was I persistent enough in getting off the bottom and he was better at sticking to his gameplan/series of passes than I was at chaining together my sweeps from open guard. I have no one to blame but myself.

Win or learn.

At :40 I hit a nice deep DLR to sweep/come up on top. I wanted the backtake but he defended and conceded the sweep, but I don't removed my initial DLR hook/actually I remember him gripping that ankle and feeling like I couldn't extricate it.

1:00 I shoot the same bullet from my arsenal but he's hip to it this time and it's no dice.
I set up my cross grip and look for my usual half-guard up/over the top sweep but he's heavy and hips back and doesn't bite when I push into him.

1:41 I don't invert as quickly as I should when he isolates my right hip and I'm forced to turtle to avoid giving up the pass

1:47 I beat the backtake and look for a butterfly sweep, but he's got a stockier build and is heavier enough to bit his hips/turn them down and negate my lift and use it to initiate a pass

2:28: I let him crowd my hooks and he runs my legs to chain into his next passing attempt

3:30 I use his back take to come up on top, then circle to north south but I let him get under me and he spins for a back take
I miss some opportunities to shoot my omoplata as I come out of inverting that honestly I need to back and have someone better than me look at because I had been hitting it in training during my preparation(s).

6:00 I get to closed guard to look to finish with a minute left, feed the lapel, hand over the back/collar to attack the neck and set up and armbar/keylock, but as he defends I shoot underneath to windmill sweep but he posts out/and I miss the transition.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Being a Shogun fan is like....well, domestic violence jokes or other not PC references aside..it is rough. Debuts in UFC and loses by RNC to Forrest Griffin.
Brutally stopped by Jon Jones.
Loses some insanely close fights to Hendo.
Now these last two.

The card is honestly pretty "meh" other than the Interim title bout.
I hate to be that guy now that I'm not working my weekend job downtown and actually can see the UFC PPV's and UFC's on Fox again. Granted it had Cain vs Fabricio before, but I mean, the card was always weak from its inception.

I'll be reffing and competing in Greensboro NC for their points tournament this Saturday. It's honestly hard to say if I'll make a point to stay awake for the main card. I literally do not recognize the names of anyone outside of 3 fights on the main card.

Above is Kron vs Beneil Dariush at black belt, in the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials.
Interesting to note Beneil is now in the UFC and Kron makes his MMA debut later this year in Japan.

Above we see Kron beating Otavio Sousa at brown belt, fast forward and Otavio is two-time world champion (though recently thwarted by Leandro Lo who continues to move up weight classes, and Kron has beaten Otavio in a moral victory in a submission only 20 minute match at the Metamoris and in the ADCC by guillotine.

A buddy of mine who trains at Ralph Gracie told me about Woolf last year the last time we ran into one another.
Then, lo and behold, I see Woolf in the finals of the Pans or the Worlds (I can't remember off the top of my head) at brown belt.
Crazy stuff.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Notwithstanding poor association to the Jiu-Jitsu "team" that shall remain nameless on this blog, Victor Silverio is featured on the most recent BJJ Hacks TV Piece. Below, I've also included a snazzy match of his from the Rio Open.

I was recently up at US Grappling Delaware/Diamond State Games and saw members of the above team competing. They won matches and divisions.But, y'know, if at the end of the day I was aware my coach had been present for a gangrape and his rationale for his innocence was that he wasn't erect....all the winning in the world would taste like battery acid.